Erik Malinowski

Every year, the government of North Korea holds a marathon to honor the birthday of the departed Great Leader himself, Kim Il Sung. This being North Korea, you'd think they rig the race so that some fortunate son comes in first, but it actually seems to be run legitimately. Never mind that none of the top runners in the world would even consider coming to Pyongyang for it. Only about a dozen countries participate, but hey, it appears everyone has a chance of winning.

This year's race, held last Sunday, was especially celebratory in that it was honoring the 100th birthday of Kim Il Sung. The race finished inside of Kim Il Sung Stadium, in front of 100,000 screaming, likely severely malnourished patrons. With 100 meters to go, North Korea's Pak Song Chol, who had won the race twice before, was in the lead. Surely, he couldn't blow this.

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Enter 28-year-old Oleksandr Matviichuk of Ukraine. He's not an elite runner, but he's had some success somewhere with the running of long distances. Well, he had been dominating most of the race when he "apparently thought he had won the race" and started slacking off. That's when Pak made his move, erasing a 59-second lead with less than a mile and a half to go. Matviichuk, to his credit, recovered in time to nip Pak at the finish line. Both were timed at 2:12:54, but Matviichuk won by a nose.

It is an annual event to mark the birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung.

It brought together marathoners from more than 10 countries and regions including the DPRK, China, Russia, Namibia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine and Kenya.

At the race Oleksandr Matviichuk (male) and Kim Mi Gyong (female) of the DPRK came first, Pak Song Chol (male) and Kim Hye Gyong (female) of the DPRK second and a Kenyan runner (male) and Jong Kyong Hui (female) of the DPRK third.

Trophy cups, medals and certificates were awarded to the successful runners.

For the record, Morris Mureithi Mwangi was the Kenyan Runner Who Would Not Be Named.